


where the heart is

by helloearthlings



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Bonding, Fluff, Found Family, Healing, Multi, Post-Canon, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 15:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16768150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helloearthlings/pseuds/helloearthlings
Summary: Jack makes a home in King Falls, too.





	where the heart is

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully publishing this motivates future projects!! But also I have a shit ton to do in the next two weeks, but maybe after that. Hope everyone enjoys, please comment if you do!

Jack doesn’t notice Sammy’s trying to get his attention until Lily gets out of the car’s driver’s seat with a slam of the door.

“Hey,” Sammy says, his hand on Jack’s shoulder and Jack almost jumps but stops himself with a jlt. Still, his heart is beating faster than it should be.

Sammy smiles at him, warm and gentle, and Jack can’t believe he’s here, that he’s real, that his hand is on Jack’s shoulder. Sammy looks a little more concerned as he hooks his arm around Jack’s neck, leaning in to whisper.

“It’s alright,” Sammy says, quiet so no one else can hear. “We’re here, that’s all. You can take your time.”

“I can get out of a car,” Jack manages to get out with a weak smile, and Sammy raises a challenging eyebrow. Jack isn’t actually sure if he can get out of the car – he’s been blacking in and out for the past five days in the hospital, and he doesn’t know when it’ll happen again.

Still, Jack finds he can’t say no to a challenge – it’s good, that he’s still the same, at least on that fundamental level – though it takes him a few extra seconds of thought to remember how to open the car door.

Everything feels new, nothing is automatic, nothing comes to him with practiced ease. It’s like Jack’s died and come back to life and doesn’t how his limbs are supposed to move. 

Still, he does manage to get out of the car, Sammy watching him and following suit. Another car has pulled up next to the car Jack assumed was Lily’s – she was driving, after all – and this one must be Ben’s.

“Hi!” Ben greets when he gets out of his own car, an enthusiastic chirp. Emily, from the passenger’s seat, smiles brightly at Jack as well.

Jack’s only known them for four days, but he thinks he likes them. They’re both sweet, and kind, and Sammy clearly loves them. That's more than enough for Jack.

“Don’t worry, we’ve already got some of your stuff upstairs,” Ben says as he walks toward the apartment building. Jack doesn’t think to move after him until Sammy takes a hold of his elbow and guides him in the right direction. “In Sammy’s room.”

“I – whose apartment is this?” Jack asks. He’s been shit at retaining information, too. He’s got down the important things – he’s in King Falls, Sammy’s here, Lily’s here, they both live here now – but thinking too much about the past five years lets darkness creep into his brain so Jack’s been shutting it all out.

“It’s Ben’s,” Sammy says at the exact same time as Ben calls “It’s ours!”

“Mine and Ben’s,” Sammy clarifies, and Jack notices his pink cheeks. Huh. He is capable of noticing things. He reaches a hand up to cup Sammy’s cheek and Sammy smiles, cheeks going even redder, and he kisses Jack’s hand.

That wouldn’t have happened before, in a small town parking lot, with people they knew nearby. Jack smiles.

* * *

“I had my own place,” Sammy explains later that night, after Emily and Ben served dinner, and Jack manages to keep the food down. Rich and heavy foods aren’t going to be something he’s eating any time soon, but Emily apparently has a world famous soup recipe, and Jack gets that down without an issue. “It just – it was nothing, without you there.”

“Can confirm,” Lily says when Jack gives her a questioning look. “A disgusting hovel of sadness.”

Even though her tone is detached and ironic, it sends a wave of sadness through Jack. He left Sammy alone.

“But I rescued him!” Ben pipes up, and he’s obviously trying to break the tension and make things cheerful again like they were when Emily told the story of Sammy punching the town’s mayor in the face, which made Jack almost spit out his drink.

“Sure, Ben,” Sammy says, and though his words are teasing, Jack can tell how genuine he is, the way he won’t quite make eye contact.

Jack takes Sammy’s hand under the table, because apparently that’s something they can do now, and Sammy squeezes it tightly like an anchor.

“It’s nice here,” Ben says, turning to Jack with a hopeful gleam in his eye. Ben is so open and genuine, Jack can hardly believe it, and he knows that Ben’s who he can think for the fact that he’s holding Sammy’s hand right now.

Jack knows that there are things not being said right now, can feel the tension in the room, and knows that Sammy probably needed some rescuing in a lot of ways. 

Jack’s so glad that Ben was here when he couldn’t be.

* * *

The apartment isn’t large, just two bedrooms and a shared bathroom, but Emily’s sleeping in Ben’s room and Lily’s sleeping on the couch tonight. Apparently no one wants to be left alone.

Jack’s obviously in Sammy’s room, and even though the walls are bare, he can tell it’s Sammy’s from the organized mess, the contact solution on the dresser, the shoes stacked in the closet precariously.

“I hate thinking about you being alone,” Jack says after the door closes and it’s just the two of them. He sits on the corner of the bed, feeling at home and in a foreign country all at once. “I’m – God, I’m so sorry. I can’t quite grasp that you’re even here.”

“I know,” Sammy says, biting his lip, the lines around his eyes going soft. He looks older, but that’s okay – Jack knows he looks older, too. Older and more damaged. But then again, he can tell just from reaching his hand out that Sammy’s damaged, too, even if neither of them are beyond repair. “You keep looking at me like you’re surprised all over again.”

“Sorry,” Jack says, but he doesn’t look away from Sammy’s eyes, this at least still natural. Being alone with Sammy, that’s Jack’s default setting. He knows how this works, it feels fluid and easy when everything else jolts just a little too much.

“Stop saying that, I’m the sorry one,” Sammy comes to sit next to him, jostle Jack just enough to fit his head into the crook of Jack’s neck. Jack can’t help but grin, turning his head into Sammy’s hair. It’s longer than Jack’s ever seen it. It looks good on him.

“Don’t be,” Jack murmurs. “Don’t be sorry. You’re here.”

* * *

This is the first time Jack’s slept without drugs, and he knew it wasn’t going to be pleasant. Still, when he jolts awake with a gasp like something’s choking him and he can’t breathe, he can’t get words out, he can’t move, Sammy wraps his arms around Jack and holds tightly until Jack can breathe again.

“You get a little choked up?” Sammy says to him afterwards and Jack finds a smile for that. It’s what he used to say when Sammy got panic attacks, when he couldn’t breathe with the pressure, because Sammy would shut off when Jack said _panic attack._

So Jack would just say _you get a little choked up, but that’s alright, it’ll pass, I’ll help you._

Jack misses those moments, but Sammy’s here and warm and now Jack’s the one who needs a little help, and Sammy’s there to give it. Jack can’t believe it, and will keep not believing it, but Sammy will keep being there.

* * *

Lily keeps being there, too. Jack remembers most of their fights – screaming, bloody matches to the death – but Sammy and Lily seem to have worked all of that out for Jack, though they still trade barbed wire insults constantly.

Lily sleeps on the couch for two days before announcing she’s going back to her apartment – she lived in a hotel, Jack gleans, for quite a while before she bit the bullet and made a permanent home in King Falls. Apparently even her dog is here now.

“I’ll call you in the morning, I’ll come over for breakfast,” Lily says as she kisses Jack’s cheek goodbye at the door. That’s been an adjustment, Lily showing him affection regularly, maybe even more so than Sammy being affectionate around people. “Try not to drown in the domesticity.”

“What do you mean?” Jack asks. The past few days have been exercises in patience with four people hovering and worrying over him.

“When Ben and Emily aren’t playing tonsil hockey, Ben and Sammy are basically the Odd Couple,” Lily explains. “Or Bert and Ernie, take your pick. Ben smothers Sammy with affection, and Sammy will take maybe half of it, depending on the day. It’s quite the dance they do.”

“Good,” Jack says, not sure where Lily’s going with this, but knowing where he’s going. “Sammy seems to really love him.”

“Oh, he does,” Lily says, with an affectionate roll of her eyes. “They’ve toned it down these past couple days because they’re both so worried about you, but they usually give you cavities with their sugary sweetness.”

She pauses, and when she speaks again, her voice loses its usual ironic tone. “He’s good for Sammy. Almost everyone in town is, but Ben especially. He was – he was really lost without you, Jack. Ben’s the only reason he’s still around. He would’ve…well, I guess I’ll let him tell you that.”

“Wait –” Jack starts, but Lily’s out the door.

* * *

“Can we do something normal?” Jack asks when he re-enters the kitchen to find Emily and Sammy bent over the stack of painkillers that the doctor had given Jack before being released from the hospital. “Like – I don’t know – watch a movie?”

“That sounds fun,” Emily stands up, giving Jack a beaming smile. She’s one of the sweetest people Jack’s ever met, and though she’s been more distant with him than Ben has, Jack can tell that she’s trying to give him the space that he needs.

Ben, Jack can tell, is incapable of understanding things like space, but it’s in a very sweet way. He pokes his head out of the bedroom door and says. “Ooh, Jack, do you like the X Files?”

“Oh, God,” Sammy puts his head in his hands, Emily lets out a long groan, but Jack perks up.

“Yeah, I love the X Files,” Jack says. “How many times did I make you watch them, Sammy?”

“Enough,” Sammy says, and even though his tone is long-suffering, Jack can see the smile beneath it. “And Ben’s made me watch them _even more –”_

“Shut up, both of you!” Ben points at Sammy and Emily before turning to Jack with a beaming grin. “There are new episodes!”

“What?” Jack laughs. “Like – seriously? With Mulder and Scully?”

“Yes!” Ben beams. “I mean – full disclosure – they’re not great. But if you were a fan, you have to see them, oh my God. We’ll binge watch! It’ll be so fun!”

Jack finds himself being physically pulled into the living room by Ben, and loves the look on Ben’s face when he gets Jack seated on the couch, like everything has to be perfect for the viewing experience.

Sammy comes in to sit next to Jack, rolling his eyes good-naturedly at Ben in the same way he might to Jack or Lily.

Ben, tiny and enthusiastic, thrumming with energy and affection, grins back.

Jack can’t express how relieved he is that Ben exists.

* * *

Jack’s throwing up breakfast two days later when Emily comes into the bathroom, and without a word, sits next to him, listens to him vomit, and runs a hand through his hair when he’s done. She hands him a breath mint.

“Thanks,” Jack says, leaning back on his heels, still feeling like there’s more to come up, even though he’s seen everything he’s eaten in the past twenty-four hours already.

“Don’t mention it,” Emily says quietly. “I thought this might be a good time to talk alone.”

“O-okay,” Jack says a little shakily. While the apartment is certainly small enough that it’s difficult to find privacy – not that Jack even wants privacy – this is an odd time to choose to find it.

“Jack, can I –” Emily breaks off with a sad sigh, and she puts a hand on his shoulder. “I just wanted to tell you that I’ve been through something very similar. It wasn’t the same – but I disappeared. I wasn’t here anymore. It was someplace else, and it was only for ten months instead of five years, but…it can be very difficult to talk to people who haven’t experienced it, even if they mean well.”

“Oh,” Jack says, and his heart breaks for Emily as her lip quivers. “I’m so sorry, Emily – God, I had no idea.”

Jack’s never been that tactile of a person, but he leans over to hug her without even thinking about it, and she squeezes him tight. He thinks that between Ben and Emily, they’re breaking down quite a few of Jack’s general barriers to the world at large. Ben is like a golden retriever, touchy-feely as they come, and Jack loves him for that too, just like he loves Emily for opening up to him.

“I wasn’t eating or sleeping at all in the beginning,” Emily says as they break apart, “but my main issue was memory problems. I know you’ve got a pretty solid grasp on memories of people but maybe not so much on the physical stuff. I had the same problem, and I just – I would love to help you, in whatever way I can.”

She looks almost embarrassed, and Jack puts a hand on her shoulder.

“You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met,” Jack tells her in all seriousness, and she giggles.

“I think some of the first people Sammy wants to introduce you to are Tim and Mary,” Emily tells him. “And Tim went through almost the same thing as I did. So he’s someone to talk to, too.”

“I’m a bit scared to leave the apartment,” Jack admits. “You and Ben – you’re so wonderful, I can’t believe you’re real. I don’t know whether I expect the rest of the town to be equally amazing, or if I think that the rest of it has to be a hellhole to make up for the miracle of you guys.”

“We’re hardly a miracle,” Emily says, but her look is all affection. “And I promise, there is so much good in King Falls. There’s some bad, there’s some intolerance, but – there are so many good people here, and they love you so much already.”

Now it’s Jack’s turn to blush, and Emily takes his hand to squeeze it. “You’ll like it. I promise.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Jack tells her. “I mean – this is Sammy’s home. Lily’s home. I couldn’t not.”

Emily smiles, half-sad but half-relieved. “It wasn’t home until last week, Jack. For either of them.”

* * *

A week turns into a month. Jack meets Tim and Mary. Ron. He’d met Troy in the hospital already, but he now there are weekly dinners at Troy and Loretta’s house. Archie Simmons, Hershel Baumgartner, Reagan Spears. There are so many names, faces.

Jack goes on the radio a few times, once Sammy and Ben start regularly broadcasting again. Jack’s glad it’s not every night, but he likes taking calls, likes when people greet him enthusiastically and how good it is to hear from him. Sammy will always smile, affectionate, embarrassed, and pleased all at once.

Emily’s right. Jack likes it. It feels like home in a way that no place ever has.

The apartment just as much as the town. It’s small, sometimes cramped, and with four people, they’re constantly on top of each other, but it’s what Jack needs. It’s clearly what Sammy needs. Hell, Jack thinks Ben and Emily need it, too.

None of them want to be alone, is what Jack realizes slowly. And all of them want to be with each other.

Sometimes, with the other townspeople, Jack feels like just an extension of Sammy. And it’s not that he hates that – he likes some parts of it, like the way Sammy will hold his hand in public now without thinking about it. They’ve been apart for so long, and both of them seemed to agree without saying it that this was a new start, one where they didn’t have to be tied to who they’d been in Florida or LA.

Ben’s even more touchy-feely with Sammy than Jack is, and it makes Jack laugh every time, the way Ben feels so comfortable ducking under Sammy’s shoulder, playing with his long hair, hugging him every thirty seconds.

The affection quickly extends to Jack, too, and it isn’t long before Ben’s in Jack’s personal space constantly, and Jack loves it, loves Ben for it. He’s the most genuine person Jack knows, and he’s not afraid to show any of the love he has.

Jack thinks he needs that. He knows Sammy does.

Emily’s less physical, but she’ll still kiss Jack’s cheek hello and goodbye just like she does with Sammy. Ben gets longer, messier kisses that make Sammy throw food at them.

It’s good. It’s better than good. It’s Jack’s favorite place that he’s ever lived.

* * *

Sammy and Emily both catch a cold, and Ben promptly decides they have to be banished to Sammy and Jack’s room, which he’s calling The Sick Room, which leaves Jack and Ben to continue their marathon of the Haunting of Hill House, a horror show that Sammy and Emily both refuse to touch with a ten foot pole.

“I’ve already seen it twice which is why I’m not literally quaking,” Ben says when Jack accidentally knocks over a coaster when a jump scare hits at the exact wrong time. “Sammy came into the room when I was watching it, I told him I’d start it over if he wanted to see it, and he said he was going to bed.”

“He hates horror movies,” Jack says, fondness taking over his voice almost entirely. “The original Saw came out the first year we worked together, and Lily and I made him go see it with us. He _screamed_. It was adorable.”

“Tell me all the embarrassing Sammy stories while he’s not here,” Ben says, his eyes flashing in the direction of the bedroom. His voice drops to a whisper. “I don’t think he can hear us.”

“I’ve told you so many already!” Jack grins, but he leans in closer to Ben conspiratorially, Ben’s smile growing by the second. “He sobbed his way through Marley and Me.”

“Like anyone with a heart!” Ben says, grin wide and toothy. “And he makes fun of me for crying at movies.”

“You cry at everything,” Jack tells him, and Ben shoves his shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve been told,” Ben says, and moves closer to Jack as they both start paying attention to the TV again. “But I don’t cry at horror movies! I love horror movies. I might cry again at this one, though. Just maybe.”

“Ridiculous,” Jack says fondly. “Though I’m glad we both have the same taste in films. Gotta have someone to watch horror with.”

“We have a lot in common,” Ben agrees, then smiles softly, in a way Jack can tell is meaningful. “Both Sammy and Lily told me that, before we met, but – I really love that. Having so much in common.”

“Me too,” Jack says, and it makes Ben beam. It’s making Jack smile, too.

“I’m gonna say this now, while we’re alone, so I can make it more dramatic, as is my way,” Ben tells Jack, and Jack shifts to look at him curiously. “But – I mean – I love you, Jack. I told Sammy from the minute I knew about you that I would love you because he loved you, and obviously that’s true, but also, you’re the literal best. I’m so, _so_ happy we’re friends. Sorry – is that a weird thing to say?”

Jack laughs, leaning in to hug Ben. Ben makes a surprised noise, but he quickly molds into the hug. Jack’s almost a foot taller than Ben, and it always makes him laugh when that becomes very clear, like right now, with Ben’s head nestled under his chin.

“I love you, too,” Jack tells him. “And not just because Sammy does. But – thank you. Thank you for being there for him when I wasn’t. I’ll literally never be able to repay you for that.”

“I was happy to,” Ben says into Jack’s chest. “He needs someone to take care of him.”

“He does,” Jack says. “I’m glad that we can share the job.”

“Cause he’s such a handful,” Ben says and they both dissolve into laughter.

“I love it here, Ben,” Jack says quietly, a few minutes later. “I hate that I had to literally disappear off the face of the earth to get us here, but – it almost feels worth it. Getting to be here – and knowing you. Especially knowing you.”

Ben looks at him, startled for half a second, but it doesn’t take any time at all for him to get teary. “I – that means so much, Jack. When you weren’t here – I’d feel so guilty, thinking about how Sammy was one of the best parts of my life but knowing he wouldn’t have met me without – without losing you. I’m so, so happy you’re here. It’s unbelievable.”

“I feel…” Jack tries to search for the words. He’s tried to tell Sammy this before, with some amounts of success, but he wants Ben to know, too. “In our life before, we were happy, we loved each other. But it was like – that was a separate world than everything else. Work, friends, whatever. Now – everything is the same world. And it’s a really good world to live in. That means so much.”

“Glad I could help,” Ben says, and hugs him again. Ben’s a touchy-feely kind of guy, and Jack’s grateful.

* * *

Sammy picks their wedding date out of a hat when they’re all tipsy one night.

“July eighteenth,” Sammy beams at Jack as they sit cross-legged on the couch.

“That’s a good date!” Troy says, raising his glass in their direction. He’s probably the least drunk person there, as the largest of their little group. On the other hand, Ben is well on his way down the rabbit hole, giggling against Emily’s shoulder.

“I like summer,” Jack says.

“Me too,” Sammy says and turns to Jack with raised eyebrows. “Think we can plan this thing in five months?”

“Don’t ask him that, ask me!” Ben hiccups from where he’s sitting on the ground. “I wanna plan!”

“Your best man has spoken, he’s planning,” Jack teases while Ben gives Sammy the biggest puppy dog eyes in the world.

“Am I best man?” Ben says in a hushed whisper and Sammy gazes fondly down at his best friend.

“No, I think I’ll see if Grisham’s available,” Sammy says and Ben makes a retching noise. “Yes, obviously you’re my best man, idiot!”

“Do I get to be yours?” Lily asks Jack. She must also be tipsy if she’s asking that, with a hesitant look on her face, but Jack isn’t hesitating.

“Who else would it be?” Jack asks, and Lily doesn’t beam like Ben, but the half-smile on her face is just as monumental.

“Are you two gonna get a place of your own?” Troy asks, and it’s innocuous enough, but Jack frowns. He hadn’t even thought of the idea.

The subject gets changed after a vague non-answer, and it isn’t returned to that night, but Jack remembers it come morning when he wakes up hungover, and it doesn’t help the sick feeling.

* * *

It turns out that Ben remembers it too, because he blurts out midway through breakfast “Hey, so, I know married couples like, get houses and stuff. And like, I know you guys already _had_ a house and everything before it all got – uh, put on hold, but like – um, are you gonna – do you think you’ll –”

“You’re talking too fast for this early in the morning,” Sammy says, handing Ben his usual overnight oats and squeezing his shoulder. “And I don’t know. Jack? You want a house?”

Jack shifts uncomfortably as he pulls cereal out of the cupboard. “I dunno. Like Ben said. We’ve already had one.”

“Didn’t get to keep it for very long,” Sammy says softly, and Jack crosses the room so their arms can brush together.

“You should get a house if you want one,” Emily says, putting a hand on Ben’s shoulder as she comes into the kitchen. “There are so many nice ones here in town. I think you’d both really enjoy that.”

“I like it here,” Jack says quietly, looking at Ben specifically, and Ben smiles over at him, though his nervous energy is still palpable. “I like – being all together.”

“Well,” Sammy says, flashing a quick but also nervous smile in Jack’s direction. “I mean – it wouldn’t have to just be – what I mean is that Ben and Emily can – we could also –”

“I don’t wanna not live together,” Ben interrupts Sammy’s rambling with wide eyes. “I – sorry, but it’s true. I think we’re all better off together.”

“Oh, thank God,” Sammy says, and Jack breathes a sigh of relief at the wobbliness in Sammy’s tone, and he loops an arm around his waist that Sammy leans into. “I mean – this apartment is too small to live in forever, but – if we all –”

“I think what all of you are trying and failing to say,” Emily says, a twinkle in her eye, “is that the four of us should get a house together. And I think that’s a great idea. We’re all a family, aren’t we?”

“Yeah,” Sammy says quietly as Jack and Ben both nod. “The only thing is – I mean, you guys are gonna have kids one day –”

“And you’re not?” Ben says, voice teasing but soft. “Didn’t you text me a list of baby names last week?”

“Just ideas,” Sammy blushes as Jack bites his lip to keep from grinning too hard.

“A big house,” Emily declares. “For a big, joint family. Nothing wrong with that, right?”

“Real estate agent’s gonna look at us weird,” Ben says, but he laughs like he’s looking forward to it.

“Not as bad as our first one,” Jack nudges Sammy’s hip with his own. “Couldn’t catch onto the fact that we were buying the house together…”

“God, don’t bring her up,” Sammy says, a fond smile on his face. “Obnoxious fucking –”

“Before we change the subject!” Ben jumps in. “We’ve decided, right? This is a sure thing? Cause I’m gonna cry if it isn’t. Don’t make me cry, guys. It’s not worth it.”

“Ridiculous,” Sammy shakes his head, but he reaches across the table to ruffle Ben’s hair.

* * *

_“I like the big backyard,” Jack tells Sammy when he gets back into the kitchen. It’s spacious, metallic, empty for now, but Jack can picture all of their stuff piled up here, making it messy and homey. “It’d be great for a dog.”_

_“I want a cat,” Sammy says petulantly under his breath, a smile on his face all the same._

_“We’ll debate later,” Jack laughs, the topic an old one but never any less important. “But I think – do you wanna make an offer on this one? I mean, we’ll do the inspection and everything first but…I don’t know. I just really like it. And it’s not even a hellish commute to the station.”_

_“It’s kind of perfect,” Sammy admits, craning his neck, Jack knows to see if their obnoxious real estate agent is off the phone yet. When he doesn’t see her coming, he leans against Jack a little more. “Really big for just the two of us, though.”_

_“It won’t always be just the two of us,” Jack says after a second’s hesitation, and he’s so glad he decided to say it when he sees Sammy’s face light up._

_“Yeah,” Sammy says a little dopily. “I mean – it’s still a long ways off but –it’d be a nice place for a family.”_

_“Really nice,” Jack says, quiet and hopeful._


End file.
